Direct reciprocatory drive for motor-driven compressors and the like



Aug. 31, 1954 C. DIRECT RECIPROCAT A ARMSTRONG COMPRESSORS AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 12 1953 ORY DRIVE FOR MOTOR-DRIVEN INVENTOR CHRISTOPHER A. ARMSTRONG ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 31, 1954 DIRECT RECIPROCATORY DRIVE FOR MOTOR-DRIVEN COMPRESSORS AND THE LIKE Christopher A. Armstrong, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada Application February 12, 1953, Serial No. 336,620 2 Claims. (01. 230-58) My invention relates to improvements in direct reciprocatory drive for motor driven compressors and the like.

The objects of the present invention are to provide a motor having a stator and a rotor in which the rotor forms a reciprocating element adapted for connection to a reciprocatory part of the compressor or other power consuming machine to operate it; to provide that the rotor may impart one reciprocatory cycle to each revolution, and to provide a mechanism where the part reciprocated by the rotor may serve as a cylinder for a compressor and the shaft on which the rotor part i journalled may serve in whole or in part as the piston for the compressor.

The single figure of the drawing is a vertical sectional view of a motor-compressor of a socalled sealed refrigerator unit.

The numeral I indicates a sealed vessel having a bottom wall 2, a side wall 3, a top closure 4 and a horizontal dividing wall 5 which divides the vessel into a suction chamber 1 and a compressed gas chamber 8. The suction chamber 1 is provided with an inlet opening in to which the suction pipe H from an expansion coil, not shown, is connected. The gas chamber 8 is provided with an outlet opening l2 to which a pipe I5 is adapted to be connected to return the compressed refrigerant to a liquid receiver, not shown.

concentrically mounted within the vessel is a hollow vertical shaft I! having an upper end closure I8, which closure forms the piston for a compressor generally indicated by the numeral 20, and is apertured as at 2| to form intake ports to said compressor. Slidably and rotatably mounted upon the shaft I1 is a sleeve 23 which forms the cylinder of the compressor 20 and is fitted with a top closure or cylinder head 24. The cylinder head 24 is provided with a recess 25 having in its base a valve port 26. The recess 25 is covered with a cap 28 having a discharge outlet 29 and housing the spring 30 of an outlet valve 3i which valve is adapted to close the valve port 26. A disk forming a suction valve 32 is mounted upon the piston or cylinder end closure l B to cover the intake ports or aperture 2 I. The field windings or stator 34 of an electric motor 35 is mounted concentrically within the gas chamber 8 and its armature or rotor 36 is mounted upon the sleeve or cylinder 23 to rotate and reclprocate therewith within the magnetic field. The lower end of the sleeve 23 is fitted with a wobble plate 31 which is engaged on its upper and lower face adjacent its periphery by a pair of slippers 38 supported in a fixed position from a stationary part of the vessel structure.

The operation of the device is as follows:

When the motor circuit is closed the rotor will be caused to rotate and the sleeve or cylinder 23 will obviously rotate upon the hollow shaft IT. The wobble plate 31 is set at an angle of approximately ninety degrees from the axis of the sleeve upon which it is secured and as part of the plate which at the moment is engaged between the slippers is held against movement axially of the shaft, the sleeve or cylinder 23 together with the rotor 36 must move axially of the shaft [1, causing the cylinder head 24 to move toward and away from the piston [8, thus causing the compressor to function as such. The rotor 36 is preferably shorter in an axial direction than the stator 34, a shown, so that all the effective magnetic area of the rotor will be confined within the length of the field windings to the extent of the reciprocatory movement of the stator, so that the torsional efiiciency of the motor is unimpaired.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A direct reciprocatory drive for electromotors comprising a motor having a stator, a rotor and a stationary shaft, said rotor being mounted upon a sleeve, said sleeve being mounted for rotational and reciprocatory movement upon the shaft, said sleeve having an end closure at one end and a wobble plate adjacent the opposite end of the rotor, and means supported on a stationary part adjacent the shaft for engaging the Wobble plate adjacent its periphery whereby the rotor is reciprocated as it rotates within the stator, said shaft forming a piston and said sleeve forming a cylinder, said shaft having an inlet valve and said cylinder having an outlet valve.

2. Direct drive mechanism for operating a, reciprocatory compressor from the rotary drive of an electromotor, said drive mechanism comprising a fixed shaft, a sleeve rotatably and reciprocably mounted upon said shaft, said rotor being mounted upon said sleeve, said sleeve forming part of the cylinder of the compressor, and said shaft having an end closure and forming the piston for the compressor, said sleeve having secured thereupon a wobble plate, and means secured to a fixed part of the compressor providing slipping engagement with the wobble plate adjacent its periphery and reciprocatory movement to the rotor and the compressor cylinder, said fixed shaft end closure having an inlet valve and said sleeve having an outlet valve.

Name Date Bell Jan. 12, 1937 Number 

